In the "domain" thread, someone posted an example from a practice log, which I thought was really helpful. And in another thread there's been a lot of discussion about easy arrangements verses originals. I was thinking it would be interesting to post samples of two versions of a piece (original and easy) in discussing this topic. So I have two questions:

1) How can I put an image into a post? If I scan something in, can I just do cut and paste? Should an image be jpeg or something else?

2) If I want to show just a few measures or so of one song, is that ok? There's no copyright problem with that is there? Do people do that sort of thing (posting samples of the music they are playing)? It seems like it would be very helpful, and interesting to see what we are all working on.

Thanks for any advice etc.

A good question. I would say any music posted here is covered under "fair use." Showing music here is like showing music to several people visiting your house -- you're not trying to sell someone else's rights, you're just trying to get an opinion. You're showing it with the intent to illustrate a musical or technical issue, for educational purposes. Now if you asked people to contribute money to you in exchange for posting scores, you're in trouble.

I'm not so sure the lawyers who prosecuted the file sharing websites would agree, but I'm no lawyer. Any piano-playing lawyers on this site who know the true legalities?

You usually can't reproduce copyrighted material for any reason without permission.

But, in any event this is is Piano World's site, and posting copyrighted material is expressly forbidden by the agreement you made when you signed up. Please don't put the host at risk, however small.

To show an image, you have to host it somewhere. Usually your ISP provides some space that you can use for a personal website. You can use that to host your scans or you can use some Internet storage place to host it.

Once you've found a host, then you can either post a link to the scan or you can insert an img tag to make it display in the thread.

No problem at all posting a few measures of a piece. If the piece is multi-page, then you should be able to post a whole page to use as an example in your discussion. You probably wouldn't want to post the entire piece if it's copyrighted though.

There are a number of people in the forum, (including me), who run their own servers. So if you don't have a place to host the scans that you want to discuss, then you can ask one of us to host them for you.

Thank you all for the comments. I certainly won't want to do anything to put the hosts of this site at risk (esp since I am benefitting so much from being able to participate here!)

Mikhailoh, you said that any copyrighted material is a no-no, but Bob Muir said that a few measures wouldn't be a problem. I would tend to agree with Bob, because a few measures out of 4 to 8 pages of music can't be a big deal, but I think that only on the basis of total ignorance

Anyway, I indeed do not have a server of my own, so at this point I don't think I'll be troubling anyone else since it's obviously a gray area. (But thank you Bob for your suggestion)

My original motivation was just for the discussion, to talk about different arrangements, so it's nothing pressing. However, I can imagine that being able to post a few measures here and there would be really beneficial to some (esp those without teachers), so it would be good to get a definitive answer on whether it is an option, or if it is indeed a definite no-no.

I'm a lawyer, and I have no clue.

I do know that people (myself included) copy and paste entire articles from newspapers and magazines all the time on these boards, which I always thought was a copyright violation . . .

:shrug:

I wish there were a way to have a better idea of what folks are talking about when they discuss a piece of music. I just don't know what to suggest. At least we have MIDIs to help us out.

I thought things became part of the public domain after some period of time. Doesn't that apply to non-edited, non-arranged classical pieces from composers who died centuries ago?

All the classical repertoire is in the public domain, right? The problem may come in when you reproduce a score by a particular publisher... the publisher is republishing public-domain material, does that mean that we have the right to republish the published public-domain material?

Reminds me of a Simpson's Christmas episode -- the Simpson family are caroling door-to-door and are singing "Sleighride" when a lawyer opens the door and demands they cease and desist. Frankly I think we've all been pushed around far too much and should start demanding our FAIR USE rights. We are the public, and we can demand what we want, this is America, and we should all demand fair use. "just don't use C# and Ab since they're owned by Disney..."

To my understanding, some classical music is public domain and some is not. At least you can't get the free downloads of it anyway.

I don't think anyone is going to get too bent out of shape on a couple measures, but I felt it was a good idea to remind of the terms of use to avoid potential problems. Once you start posting a couple measures, we could see scans of whole pieces, etc.

The slippery slope.. please be careful and mindful of our host. He's put up with a lot from the forum members lately.